Tag: michael rogers

A top U.S. intelligence official told lawmakers Tuesday that President Trump has not ordered his agencies to combat Russia’s continuing inference in the American election process, despite what he called the Kremlin’s “sustained aggression.”

Adm. Michael S. Rogers, head of the National Security Agency and the military’s Cyber Command, said his agencies have not been directed by the White House to counter Russian meddling.

“President Putin has clearly come to the conclusion that there’s little price to pay and that therefore ‘I can continue this activity,’” Rogers, who plans to retire in April, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Clearly what we have done hasn’t been enough.”

Rogers is the second senior intelligence official this month to warn that Russian interference continues and the Trump administration has failed to adequately combat the propaganda campaign.

After Trump won the election, he suggested Russian meddling was a “hoax” peddled by the fake media, ignoring his own intelligence agencies’ conclusions that Moscow waged a disinformation campaign to further divide Americans on hot-button topics like race, gay rights and immigration.Earlier this month, 13 Russians were indicted on allegations that they ran an unprecedented smear campaign to help Trump get elected.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who was appointed by the Justice Department to investigate Russian interference, is probing whether Trump or his campaign colluded with Moscow to undermine the election.

FBI Director James Comey on Monday confirmed what everyone had been saying: The FBI and Justice Department has no information supporting President Donald Trump’s claims that President Barack Obama wiretapped his campaign.

“I have no Information that supports those tweets,” Comey told the U.S. House Committee on Intelligence.

The statement is likely to further embarrass and undermine the credibility of the president and his administration, which has often relied on media reports as a source of intelligence rather than turning to the U.S. intelligence agencies.

Adm. Michael Rogers, head of the National Security Agency, who sat next to Comey, also testified there was no evidence that British intelligence helped Obama wiretap Trump.

Earlier, Comey confirmed that the FBI is investigating concerns about the Russians meddling in the presidential election.